JP6840962B2 - Mail device, its information processing method, program, and mail system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a mail device, its information processing method, program, and mail system, and more particularly to a mail device having a function of approving delivered mail by a third party, its information processing method, program, and mail system.

Patent Document 1 describes an example of a mail system that enables a check for instructing whether or not the description content is appropriate in Internet mail in an organization such as a school or a company. The system of Patent Document 1 adds the user ID of the approver to the subject line and sends it to the mail server in order to indicate that the mail requires approval when the recipient is outside the organization when composing the mail. ..

Then, the mail server temporarily stores the mail requiring approval in the approval storage area for the approver. Then, when the approver's terminal accesses this area, the mail server causes the terminal to display a list of mails requiring approval. Then, the approver confirms the content of each displayed mail and inputs the approval or rejection of the delivery to the terminal. The mail server follows the instructions of the approver entered in the terminal, performs mail delivery processing in the case of approval, and cancels delivery in the case of rejection.

Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 describe a method of creating an actionable e-mail document. Include a field in the body of the email where you can fill in the data and send it to the recipient. The recipient enters data in the fill-in-the-blank part and replies to the email. The device holds metadata that defines the meaning of each field and the action associated with it, and can process the data entered in the reply mail based on it.

The device described in Patent Document 4 automatically adjusts the conditions for extracting emails to be approved. Set multiple rules such as "attached file", "addressed to company A", and "addressed to free email address" in advance, and prioritize the rules. When the number of approvable emails per day is entered by the approver, the rules are preferentially combined in descending order of priority, and the number of matching emails is specified for each of the combined rules. Then, a combination of rules close to the approvable number is applied as an approval rule.

The email misdelivery prevention device described in Patent Document 5 determines an email addressed to the outside from the destination email address of the original email, and recognizes the email addressed to the outside as a target for preventing misdelivery. Then, an approval request email including the approval keyword is created and sent to the approver. The approver sees the received approval request email, creates a request reply email in which the approval or prohibition instruction and the approval keyword described in the approval request email are described in the text, and replies. If the request response email contains an approval keyword and an approval instruction, the delivery of the original email is approved.

In the e-mail management method described in Patent Document 6, after sending an approval request e-mail to a plurality of approval authority persons, one of the plurality of approval authority persons performs an approval process on the approval request e-mail. Detect that. Then, by deleting the approval request e-mail sent to the approval authority other than the approval authority who has approved, the approval process is prevented from being duplicated by a plurality of approval authority. The approval process is performed by the approval authority, viewing the contents of the approval request email, making a decision on approval or denial, and performing an approval operation.

JP-A-2002-063117 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-172444 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-038343 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-266984 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-102039 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-010923

In any of the above-mentioned techniques described in the literature, it is necessary for the approval person who confirms the delivery to confirm the content of the e-mail in order to determine whether or not the e-mail can be delivered. Since this approval work is done manually, there is a risk of misdelivery of emails due to human error.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mail device, an information processing method, a program, and a mail system for solving a problem that an mail is erroneously delivered due to a human error in determining whether or not the mail can be delivered.

In each aspect of the present invention, the following configurations are adopted in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.

The first aspect relates to the mail device.
The mail device related to the first aspect is
An acquisition method for acquiring information that identifies the email to be approved, and
An email creation means that creates an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
It has a sorting means for sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule.
Then, the predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions.

The second aspect relates to information processing methods performed by at least one computer.
The information processing method related to the second aspect is
The mail device
Get the information that identifies the email to be approved,
Create an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email, store it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email, and
This includes sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule.
Then, the predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions.

As another aspect of the present invention, it may be a program that causes at least one computer to execute the method of the second aspect, or a recording medium that can be read by a computer that records such a program. You may. This recording medium includes non-temporary tangible media.
This computer program includes computer program code that causes the computer to perform its information processing method on a mail device when executed by the computer.

It should be noted that any combination of the above components and the conversion of the expression of the present invention between methods, devices, systems, recording media, computer programs and the like are also effective as aspects of the present invention.

Further, the various components of the present invention do not necessarily have to be independent of each other, and a plurality of components are formed as one member, and one component is formed of a plurality of members. It may be that a certain component is a part of another component, a part of a certain component overlaps with a part of another component, and the like.

Further, although the method and the computer program of the present invention describe a plurality of procedures in order, the order of description does not limit the order in which the plurality of procedures are executed. Therefore, when implementing the method and computer program of the present invention, the order of the plurality of procedures can be changed within a range that does not hinder the contents.

Furthermore, the methods of the present invention and the plurality of procedures of a computer program are not limited to being executed at different timings. Therefore, another procedure may occur during the execution of a certain procedure, a part or all of the execution timing of the certain procedure and the execution timing of the other procedure may overlap, and the like.

According to each of the above aspects, it is possible to provide a mail device, an information processing method, a program, and a mail system thereof that improve the accuracy of determining whether or not the mail can be delivered and prevent erroneous delivery of the mail.

It is a figure which conceptually shows the system structure of the mail system including the mail device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which logically shows the structure of the mail server including the mail device of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the approval target correspondence table. It is a figure which shows an example of the approval target mail. It is a figure which shows an example of the approval request mail. It is a figure which shows an example of the distribution rule. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of mailbox definition information. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the configuration of the computer which realizes the mail server including the mail device. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation about the creation of the approval request mail of the mail device of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation of the distribution part of the mail apparatus of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation of the execution part of the mail apparatus of this embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which shows the logical structure of the mail device of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of transmission / reception history information. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the transmission / reception number information. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of the broadcast history information. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting policy of an evaluation value. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of evaluation value information. It is a figure which shows another example of the approval request mail. It is a figure which shows another example of a distribution rule. It is a flowchart which shows the creation procedure of the approval request mail in a mail device. It is a figure which shows the main part structure of the mail server in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows another example of a distribution rule. It is a figure which shows an example of the preview screen of mail in MUA. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the mail sorting process according to the denial condition, following the mail sorting process according to the approval condition of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation of the execution part of the mail apparatus of this embodiment. It is a functional block diagram which logically shows the structure of the mail device of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation of the mail apparatus of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the header of the approval request mail.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In all drawings, similar components are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

(First Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram conceptually showing a system configuration of a mail system 1 including a mail device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram that logically shows the configuration of the mail server 40 including the mail device 100 of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mail system 1 includes a plurality of user terminals 10 on the network 3 and a mail server 40. The network 3 is, for example, an intranet or the like, an in-house network of a company, a public institution, a facility, or the like.

The mail server 40 has a receiving unit 42 and a delivery unit 48.
The receiving unit 42 receives the e-mail delivered to the user in the network 3 by using a protocol such as POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), and receives the e-mail delivered to the user in the network 3, and the receiving unit 42 receives the e-mail delivered to the user in the network 3 and receives the e-mail of the mailbox area unit 44. It is stored in the mailbox area 46 for each user. The delivery unit 48 delivers the e-mail to the user of the network 3 or the external network 5 by using the SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

For example, the user can use the user terminal 10 to access his / her own mailbox area 46 of the mail server 40 and receive an e-mail.

The mail device 100 can be incorporated as a function of the mail server 40 of the mail system 1. The mail device 100 has a function of assisting the approval work of the mail approver for the target mail among the mails transmitted from the user terminal 10.

The function of assisting this approval work includes, for example, a function of automatically determining whether or not an email can be delivered according to a predetermined approval condition and automatically delivering an email determined to be deliverable. Furthermore, it includes a function to manually process the e-mail that the approver has confirmed the content of the e-mail and determined that the e-mail can be delivered, for the e-mail that cannot be delivered by automatic approval. The latter function will be described in an embodiment described later.

For example, emails to be approved include emails to which the recipients (including broadcast recipients. To :, Cc :, Bcc :) are not within the company, or the recipients are specified destinations (email address (user) or domain (department)). Etc.), those with attached files, those whose sender (From :) is a predetermined sender (email address (user) or domain (department), etc.), or a combination thereof. Alternatively, all delivery emails may be subject to approval. Alternatively, emails received or delivered within a predetermined period may be subject to approval.

The receiving unit 42 extracts the approval target mail M1 to be approved as described above from the received mails. The extracted e-mail M1 to be approved is delivered to the e-mail device 100, and the delivery is suspended until the approval process by the e-mail device 100 is completed. The mail M0 that is not subject to approval is delivered to the delivery unit 48 as it is and delivered to the destination.

Then, only the mail approved by the mail device 100 is delivered to the destination by the delivery unit 48.
The e-mail approver is a person who is different from the sender of the e-mail (for example, user U2) and has approval authority (for example, user U1, hereinafter also referred to as approver U1).

It is assumed that the approver U1 has the authority to approve the sender's e-mail in advance. For example, it can be predetermined in the approval target correspondence table 110 as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 3, the user specific information (for example, e-mail address, user account, etc.) of the user U2, user U3, etc. to be approved is the user specific information (for example, e-mail address, user account, etc.) of the approver user U1. Etc.).

FIG. 3 is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. In another example, for example, when the domain name is different for each department and the superior of the department is the approver U1, the domain name of the department to be approved is added to the e-mail address of the approver U1. For example, x2.abc.com and x3.abc.com) may be associated.

As described above, the sender (email address (user) or domain (department), etc.) may be associated with the approver U1, but the destination of the email (email address (user)) may be associated with the approver U1. (Specification information) or domain (information that identifies a department or organization), etc.) may be associated with each other, or a combination thereof may be used. The number of approvers U1 for one e-mail is not necessarily one, and may be a plurality of e-mails. For example, an e-mail may be circulated among a plurality of approvers such as a section chief and a department manager. The approval work by the plurality of approvers will be described in another embodiment described later.

A mailer (MUA: Message User Agent) 12 is installed in each user terminal 10. Each user uses the MUA 12 to access the mail server 40 to send and receive mail.

Next, the mail device 100 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, the mailer of the approver U1 is shown as MUA20, and the mailer of the sender of the mail is shown as MUA30 to distinguish them.

The mail server 40 has an existing function as a mail server. For example, the mail server 40 has at least a receiving unit 42, a mailbox area unit 44, a delivery unit 48, and an approval-waiting mail storage unit 50.
The mail server 40 further has a mail device 100, an inbox 112 of the approver U1, and an approved box 114. These functions are functions newly incorporated in the mail server 40.

The inbox 112 and the approved box 114 are included in the mailbox area 46 of the mailbox area 44 of the mail server 40. The mailbox area 46 is provided for each approver. The received mail addressed to the approver U1 is stored in the inbox 112.

Of the emails received by the receiving unit 42, the approval target email M1 to be approved is temporarily suspended from delivery. Then, the mail device 100 generates the approval request mail M2 exemplified in FIG. 5 from the approval target mail M1 exemplified in FIG. In the approval request mail M2, information necessary for determining whether or not the approval target mail M1 can be delivered is described. The generated approval request mail M2 is stored in the inbox 112 of the approver U1.

Then, the delivery availability is determined using the approval request mail M2. The approval request mail M2 determined to be deliverable is moved from the inbox 112 to the approved box 114.
The process of moving the approval request mail M2 from the inbox 112 to the approved box 114 is executed by using the mail distribution function of the MUA20 of the approver U1. In the distribution rule 22 used for the distribution process, approval conditions for distributing the mail stored in the inbox 112 of the approver-specific mailbox area 46 to the approved box 114 are set in advance.

In the present embodiment, in the distribution rule 22, each approver sets the e-mail approval condition using the MUA 20. The distribution rule 22 may be stored in the user-specific mailbox area 46 of the mailbox area 44 of the mail server 40, or stored in a storage device such as a memory 84 or a storage 85 of the approver's user terminal 10. You may.
In the present embodiment, the distribution process is configured to be performed by the mail server 40, but the configuration performed by the approver's user terminal 10 is not excluded. The distribution rule 22 is preferably stored in a device that performs the distribution process, but may be stored in a device that does not perform the distribution process.
For example, even if the mail server 40 is configured to perform the distribution process, the distribution rule 22 may be stored in the storage device of the approver's user terminal 10. In that case, the distribution unit 106 may store the approver at the time of distribution. Access the storage device of the user terminal 10 of the user terminal 10 to acquire the distribution rule 22.

In the sorting process of this embodiment, IMAP is used because the mailbox on the mail server 40 is the operation target. The approved box 114 stores the mails sorted according to the sorting rule 22, that is, the mails determined (approved) to be deliverable according to the approval conditions.

The mail device 100 includes an acquisition unit 102, a mail creation unit 104, a distribution unit 106, and an execution unit 108.

The acquisition unit 102 acquires information (message ID, etc.) that identifies the approval target mail M1 received by the reception unit 42. The receiving unit 42 temporarily stores the approval target mail M1 received from the MUA 30 in the approval waiting mail storage unit 50. The information acquired by the acquisition unit 102 is information that identifies the approval target mail M1, for example, a message ID (Message ID :), a sender (From :), and a destination (To :) included in various headers of the approval target mail M1. , Broadcast destination (cc :, bcc :), subject (Subject :), and attached file information (whether attached or not, file name, file size, file type, creation date and time, creator, etc.).

As used herein, "acquisition" means that the own device retrieves data or information stored in another device or storage medium (active acquisition), for example, a request or inquiry to another device. To receive, access to and read from other devices and storage media, and to input data or information output from other devices to its own device (passive acquisition), for example, distribution (or distribution (or). , Sending, push notification, etc.), including receiving at least one of the data or information to be sent, etc. It also includes selecting and acquiring the received data or information, or selecting and receiving the delivered data or information.

Then, the mail creation unit 104 identifies the approver U1 corresponding to the approval target mail M1 according to the rule described in the approval target correspondence table 110 of FIG.

The mail creation unit 104 creates an approval request mail M2 from the extracted approval target mail M1 and stores it in the inbox 112 of the mailbox area 46 of the specified approver U1. The approval request email M2 includes the email specific information of the approval target email M1. The email specific information is information used when identifying the approval target email M1 corresponding to the approval request email M2 and reading it from the approval waiting email storage unit 50 after the email approval work. For example, the Message ID of the email header. : Etc.

In the present embodiment, the message ID is used as the mail specific information, but the other examples are not limited to this. Any identification information may be used as long as the approval target email M1 and the approval request email M2 are associated with each other and the approval target email M1 can be identified from the approval request email M2.

In the example of FIG. 5, the subject 122 (Subject :) of the header portion 120 of the approval request email M2 contains information indicating that the email is an approval request. The e-mail address of the approver U1 acquired from the approval target correspondence table 110 of FIG. 3 is described in the destination 124 (To :). In the sender 126 (From :), for example, the mail address of the administrator of the mail device 100 is described. In the reference 128 (References :), the message ID described in the Message-ID header 150 (FIG. 4) of the approval target mail M1 is described.

In the main body 130, a message 132 indicating an explanation of the approval request mail M2, a mail information field 134, and an attached file information field 136 are described.

In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that the approver U1 confirms the content of the e-mail and manually approves the e-mail when the e-mail is not automatically approved due to the approval condition of the distribution rule 22.
The message 132 contains a content instructing the approval request mail M2 to be moved to the approved box 114 if the mail can be approved. The approver U1 may use the MUA 20 to see the contents of the approval request mail M2 and move the approval request mail M2 to the approved box 114 according to the instruction of the message 132.

In the mail information field 134, the information of the original approval target mail M1 is described. In the destination display field 134a, all the mail addresses of the destination 142 (To :), the broadcast destination 146 (cc :), and the hidden broadcast destination (bcc :) (not shown) of the approval target mail M1 in FIG. 4 are displayed. It is preferable that the information to be included is described. In the sender display field 134b (From :) of the mail information field 134, the mail address of the sender 144 (From :) of the approval target mail M1 of FIG. 4 is described.

In the present embodiment, the information of the approval target email M1 is described in the body of the approval request email M2, but in other examples, the information may be described in the header. Depending on the mailer's sorting function, either one may be selected as appropriate, or it may be described in both the text and the header. The example described in the mail header will be described in another embodiment.

In the attached file information column 136, information indicating that the attached file is attached to the approval target mail M1 and the attached file information, for example, file name, file size, file type, creation date and time, creator. Etc. are described. In the example of the figure, the file name and the file size are described.

The information described in the attached file information column 136 is used for the approval determination based on the attached file. For example, the approval conditions are that the file name does not include the specified character string, the file size is less than the specified value, the type is PDF (Portable Document Format), the creator is the specified user, or the creation date and time is within the specified period. Is set.

Further, the text 130 may include the destination information 138 regarding the destination of the original approval target mail M1. The destination information 138 includes a message indicating that when the destination of the approval target mail M1 includes an external domain. When the e-mail does not meet the approval conditions, the approver U1 can determine whether or not to approve by looking at the contents of this text of the approval request e-mail M2. From this destination information 138, the approver U1 can immediately understand that the approval target mail M1 includes a domain other than the company.

Further, at least one of the body of the original approval target email M1 and the attached file may be attached to the approval request email M2. The body and attached file of the approval target mail M1 can be used as a judgment material when the approver U1 approves.

The distribution unit 106 distributes the approval request mail M2 stored in the inbox 112 to a predetermined mailbox (here, the approved box 114) according to the preset distribution rule 22.

As shown in FIG. 6, the distribution rule 22 includes a condition and an operation. FIG. 6 shows an example of the distribution rule 22. As described above, the distribution rule 22 can be created by the approver U1 on the MUA 20 of the approver U1 according to the approval conditions and the mailbox of the approver user U1.

In the example of FIG. 6, the approval condition is that the approval request email is M2 (the sender is the predetermined email address of the administrator), (and), there is no attached file, and (and) is the destination. It is defined that the external domain is not included. Further, as an operation when the approval condition is met, it is defined to move the mail that meets the condition to the approved box 114. Further, the condition that the approval request email is M2 is set to include the character string of "email approval request" by referring to the subject 122 of the header part 120, for example, in addition to the sender's email address. You may. Based on these conditions, it is possible to distinguish the approval request email M2 from other emails.

The execution unit 108 executes the action set for each predetermined mailbox on the mail stored in the mailbox. In the present embodiment, the execution unit 108 executes the action set in the approved box 114 for the approval request mail M2 stored in the approved box 114.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the mailbox definition information 24.
The mailbox definition information 24 is stored in either the memory 84 or the storage 85 of the mail device 100. The mailbox definition information 24 includes information indicating the content of at least one action set for each mailbox. In this example, multiple actions are described in the order in which they are executed. The figure is shown in text for illustration purposes, but is actually written in code. In another example, specific information (information such as a file name and a path) of a program that realizes an action may be associated with a mailbox.

Here, the action set in the approved box 114 causes the delivery unit 48 to read the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the approval request mail M2 from the approval waiting mail storage unit 50 that temporarily stores the approval target mail M1. , To deliver to the destination of the approval target mail M1.

The mail device 100 of the present embodiment is provided with a mailbox (approved box 114, etc.) in which the above-mentioned predetermined action is set in the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 in advance. In another example, it may be set by the approver U1 using a folder setting function such as MUA20 or a predetermined application.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of the computer 80 that realizes the mail server 40 including the mail device 100 configured in this way. Further, the user terminal 10 of the mail system 1 is also realized by a similar computer 80.
The computer 80 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 82, a memory 84, a program 90 that realizes the components of the mail device 100 of FIG. 1 loaded in the memory 84, a storage 85 that stores the program 90, and an I / O (Input). / Output) 86 and a network connection interface (communication I / F87).

The CPU 82, the memory 84, the storage 85, the I / O 86, and the communication I / F 87 are connected to each other via the bus 89, and the entire mail device 100 is controlled by the CPU 82. However, the method of connecting the CPU 82 and the like to each other is not limited to the bus connection.

The memory 84 is a memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory). The storage 85 is a storage device such as a hard disk, an SSD (Solid State Drive), or a memory card.

The storage 85 may be a memory such as a RAM or a ROM. The storage 85 may be provided inside the computer 80, or may be provided outside the computer 80 and may be connected to the computer 80 by wire or wirelessly if the computer 80 is accessible. Alternatively, it may be detachably provided on the computer 80.

When the CPU 82 reads the program 90 stored in the storage 85 into the memory 84 and executes it, each function of each unit of the mail server 40 including the mail device 100 can be realized.

The I / O 86 controls input / output of data and control signals between the computer 80 and other input / output devices. Other input / output devices include, for example, an input device (not shown) such as a keyboard, touch panel, mouse, and microphone connected to the computer 80, and an output device (not shown) such as a display, a printer, and a speaker. These input / output devices and the interface of the computer 80 are included. Further, the I / O 86 may perform data input / output control with a reading or writing device (not shown) of another recording medium.

The communication I / F 87 is a network connection interface for communicating between the computer 80 and an external device. The communication I / F 87 may be a network interface for connecting to a wired line or a network interface for connecting to a wireless line. For example, the computer 80 that realizes the mail device 100 is connected to the network 3 and the external network 5 by the communication I / F 87.

Each component of the mail server 40 including the mail device 100 of FIG. 1 is realized by any combination of hardware and software of the computer 80 of FIG. And, it is understood by those skilled in the art that there are various modifications of the realization method and the device. The functional block diagram showing the mail device of each embodiment described below shows a block of logical functional units, not a configuration of hardware units.

The mail server 40 including the mail device 100 may be configured by a plurality of computers 80, or may be realized by a virtual computer 80.

The computer program 90 of the present embodiment has a procedure for acquiring information (message ID, etc.) for identifying the approval target mail M1 from the computer 80 for realizing the mail device 100, and the approval target mail M1 including the mail specific information. According to the procedure for creating the approval request mail M2 and storing it in the inbox 112 of the mail approver U1, and the preset distribution rule 22, the approval request mail M2 stored in the inbox 112 is stored in the predetermined mailbox (approval). It is described to execute the procedure of sorting to the completed box 114 etc.).

The computer program 90 of the present embodiment may be recorded on a recording medium that can be read by the computer 80. The recording medium is not particularly limited, and various forms can be considered. Further, the program 90 may be loaded from the recording medium into the memory 84 of the computer 80, or may be downloaded to the computer 80 via the network and loaded into the memory 84.

The recording medium on which the computer program 90 is recorded includes a medium that can be used by the non-temporary tangible computer 80, and the program code that can be read by the computer 80 is embedded in the medium. When the computer program 90 is executed on the computer 80, the computer 80 is made to execute the following information processing method for realizing the mail device 100 in the mail server 40.

The operation of the mail server 40 including the mail device 100 of the present embodiment configured in this way will be described below.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation related to the creation of the approval request mail M2 of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment. According to the procedure shown in FIG. 9, an approval request email M2 (FIG. 5) is generated from the approval target email M1 (FIG. 4).

First, the receiving unit 42 of the mail server 40 receives the delivery mail from the MUA 30 (step S101). The receiving unit 42 performs a process of receiving an e-mail from the outside by SMTP. For example, mail can be accepted on ports 25 and 587 of general TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).

The receiving unit 42 determines whether or not the e-mail is the approval target e-mail M1 according to predetermined conditions such as the sender and the destination, and delivers the e-mail requiring approval to the acquisition unit 102. This determination can be performed using the approval target correspondence table 110 described above. Further, by using the approval target correspondence table 110, the approver corresponding to the approval target mail M1 can be specified.

While waiting for the approval process, the mail requiring approval is held in the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50, and the delivery is suspended (step S103). The mail that does not require approval is delivered to the delivery unit 48, and then delivered by the delivery unit 48 (not shown). When approved by the sorting process described later, the held mail will be delivered to the delivery unit 48.

The acquisition unit 102 acquires information (message ID, etc.) that identifies the approval target email M1, and the email creation unit 104 creates the approval request email M2 (step S105). The mail creation unit 104 stores the created approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 (step S107).

The approval request mail M2 created in this way is sorted by the sorting unit 106 according to the sorting rule 22 preset by the approver U1.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the distribution unit 106 of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment.
The distribution unit 106 distributes the mail according to the distribution rule 22 of FIG. 6, and the approval target mail M1 is approved. The flow start timing in this figure can be, for example, periodically. Alternatively, the timing may be set by the approver U1 or the administrator of the mail server 40. Alternatively, when the mail creation unit 104 stores the approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112, the distribution unit 106 may be notified and started at the timing of receiving the notification. Alternatively, it may be started when a predetermined number or more of mails are stored in the inbox 112, or when a predetermined time or more has passed since the mails were stored. A combination of these may be used. The start timing may be predetermined, or the setting may be changed at any time by the approver U1 or the administrator.

First, the distribution unit 106 acquires the approval request mail M2 that has arrived in the inbox 112 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 (step S111).

The distribution unit 106 determines whether or not the approval request mail M2 stored in the inbox 112 meets the approval conditions of the distribution rule 22 set by the MUA20 of the approver U1 (step S113). Here, as described above, the approval condition includes the condition that the approval request email M2 is used, and the approval request email M2 can be distinguished from other emails addressed to the approver U1.

When the approval condition is met (YES in step S113), the distribution unit 106 moves the approval request mail M2 from the inbox 112 to the approved box 114 (step S115). If the approval condition is not met (NO in step S113), if another approval request mail M2 is in the inbox 112, the process returns to step S111 and the process of this flow is repeated. If there is no other approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112, this flow is terminated for the time being.

By the process of FIG. 10, the distribution process based on the approval determination of the approval request mail M2 is completed.

Next, the delivery process of the approved approval request mail M2 will be described.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the execution unit 108 of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment.
As described above, actions are defined in advance in the approved box 114. The execution unit 108 executes the action set in the approved box 114. The flow start timing in this figure can be, for example, periodically. Alternatively, the timing may be set by the approver U1 or the administrator of the mail server 40. Alternatively, when the distribution unit 106 stores the approval request mail M2 in the approval box 114, the execution unit 108 may be notified and started at the timing of receiving the notification. Alternatively, it may be started when a predetermined number or more of emails are stored in the approved box 114, or when a predetermined time or more has passed since the emails were stored. A combination of these may be used. The start timing may be predetermined, or the setting may be changed at any time by the approver U1 or the administrator.

First, the execution unit 108 refers to the approved box 114 in the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 and confirms whether or not the mail is stored (step S121). Then, the execution unit 108 retrieves the approval request mail M2 contained in the approved box 114 (step S123). The execution unit 108 searches for the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the extracted approval request mail M2 from the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50 (step S125).

Specifically, the execution unit 108 stores the approval target mail M1 having the same message ID 150 as the message ID of the approval target mail M1 described in the reference 128 (References :) of the approval request mail M2 in the approval waiting mail storage unit. Search from 50 pending approval queues.

When the corresponding approval target mail M1 is found (YES in step S127), the approval target mail M1 is delivered to the delivery unit 48, and the approval target mail M1 is delivered to the delivery unit 48 (To :, cc :, bcc :). (Step S129).

If the corresponding approval target mail M1 is not found (NO in step S127), this process ends. At this time, the execution unit 108 may perform a predetermined error processing. For example, a notification unit (not shown) may be further provided to notify the sender of the e-mail that the approval target e-mail M1 corresponding to the approval request e-mail M2 has not been found.

For example, the notification unit acquires the e-mail address of the sender 144 (From :) of the approval target e-mail M1 from the sender display field 134b (From :) of the e-mail information field 134 of the approval request e-mail M2. Send an e-mail with a message indicating the cancellation of delivery to the acquired e-mail address. In the message indicating the cancellation of delivery, it is described that the delivery was not performed because the approval target email M1 corresponding to the approval request email M2 was not found. Further, the approval request email M2 may be attached to the notification email.

After step S129, the execution unit 108 deletes the delivered approval target mail M1 from the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50 (step S131). Further, the execution unit 108 deletes the approval request mail M2 for which the action has been executed in the approved box 114 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 (step S133).

As described above, according to the mail device 100 of the present embodiment, the mail creation unit 104 creates an approval request mail M2 including the message ID of the approval target mail M1 and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver U1. .. Then, when the mail in the receiving mailbox matches the approval condition included in the sorting rule set by the mailer of the approver U1, the sorting unit 106 can sort the mail to the approved box 114 of the approver U1. it can.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the approved e-mail can be automatically distributed to the approved box 114 according to the distribution rule in which the preset approval conditions are described, and therefore the approved mail can be automatically distributed to the approved box 114. Person U1 does not need to confirm the contents of the mail. Since it is possible to automate the determination of whether or not to deliver an email, it is possible to avoid human error and prevent erroneous delivery of an email.

Further, if the confirmation work of the mail contents is performed manually, it takes time, but in this embodiment, since the delivery availability is automatically determined, the time and effort of the confirmation work can be saved, the work efficiency can be improved, and the approval of the approver U1. The work load can be reduced.

In the mail device 100 of the present embodiment, according to the action set in the approved box 114, the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the approval request mail M2 stored in the approved box 114 is placed in the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50. It can be read from and delivered to the destination of the approval target mail M1.

With this configuration, even if the approver U1 is absent, the approval work of the approval target mail M1 and the delivery processing of the approved mail can be automatically performed, so that the approvable mail can be delivered without delay. It is possible to prevent delays in mail delivery.

Further, according to the mail device 100 of the present embodiment, the approval process can be realized only by a simple operation of setting the approval condition in the distribution rule 22 by using the MUA 20 of the approver U1. It is not necessary to add a special configuration to the user terminal 10 of the approver U1, and it is sufficient to use the general distribution function of the MUA 20.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The mail device 200 of the present embodiment is the same as the mail device 100 of the above embodiment except that an evaluation value based on the history information of the past mail of the sender or the destination of the mail is used as an approval condition. Although the mail device 200 of this embodiment shows an example in which it is combined with the mail device 100, it can also be combined with other embodiments described later.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram showing a logical configuration of the mail device 200 of the present embodiment.
The mail device 200 of the present embodiment includes an acquisition unit 102, a mail creation unit 104, a distribution unit 106, and an execution unit 108 similar to the mail device 100 of the above embodiment, and further includes an evaluation unit 202. Be prepared.

Further, the mail device 200 is connected to the transmission / reception history storage unit 210. In the example of FIG. 12, the transmission / reception history storage unit 210 is provided outside the mail device 200. However, the transmission / reception history storage unit 210 may be realized by the memory or storage of the computer that realizes the mail device 200 (or the mail server 40). Further, the transmission / reception history storage unit 210 may be composed of a plurality of storage devices.

The transmission / reception history storage unit 210 stores the transmission / reception history information 212 (FIG. 13) of the mail transmitted / received via the mail server 40. The email recorded in the transmission / reception history information 212 may include emails other than the approval target email M1.

The data structure of the transmission / reception history information 212 shown in FIG. 13 is an example. The transmission / reception history information 212 includes the message ID of the mail, the date and time when the mail server 40 received the mail, the information of the destination (To :) of the mail (for example, the mail address), and the information of the sender (From :) of the mail (From :). For example, email address) and.

The acquisition unit 102 further acquires information based on the transmission / reception history of the email from which the email is sent, and the email creation unit 104 includes the transmission / reception history information of the email in the approval request email M2.
The sender of the email is the email address or user account listed in the sender (From :) of the email. The information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail of the transmission source of the mail is, for example, the transmission / reception number information 214 shown in FIG. The transmission / reception number information 214 is stored in the transmission / reception history storage unit 210.

The transmission / reception number information 214 is a result obtained by counting the number of transmissions / receptions of an email for each combination of the sender (From :) and the destination (To :) of the email. In this example, the account of the e-mail address and the domain name are separately recorded as two data items, but the e-mail address may be recorded as one data item.
In the example of FIG. 14, the transmission / reception number information 214 is the number of transmissions / receptions for each combination of the e-mail address of the sender of the internal user and the e-mail address of the destination of the external domain.

The transmission / reception number information 214 may be counted and recorded by the mail creation unit 104 or the evaluation unit 202 with reference to the transmission / reception history information 212, or may be counted or recorded by another device. May be good.

The distribution rule 22 includes storing the approval request mail M2 in the approved box 114 when the transmission / reception history information included in the approval request mail M2 meets the approval conditions.
For example, for the sender and the destination user, the approval condition may include that the number of transmissions / receptions of the transmission / reception number information 214 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

Further, the mail creation unit 104 may include, for example, the broadcast history information 216 shown in FIG. 15 in the approval request mail M2 as the transmission / reception history information of the mail.
In the broadcast history information 216, the result obtained by counting the number of broadcasts of the mail for each combination of the sender (From :) and the broadcast destination (cc :, bcc :) of the mail is recorded. In this example, the account of the e-mail address and the domain name are separately recorded as two data items, but the e-mail address may be recorded as one data item. Further, when there is only one type of internal domain, only the account of each user may be recorded as a data item.

The broadcast history information 216 may be counted or recorded by the mail creation unit 104 or the evaluation unit 202 with reference to the transmission / reception history information 212, or may be counted or recorded by another device. There may be.

The distribution rule 22 includes storing the approval request mail M2 in the approved box 114 when the broadcast history information 216 included in the approval request mail M2 meets the approval conditions.

In the example of FIG. 15, the case where the user 1 and the user 2 belong to the same organization is shown, but in another example, the user 1 and the user 2 may belong to different organizations. Then, for example, for the sender and the destination user, the approval condition may include that the number of broadcasts of the broadcast history information 216 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

From the information based on the e-mail transmission / reception history, the acquisition unit 102 determines the number of times of transmission / reception between the sender and the destination of the e-mail, the number of times of broadcasting for each user who is the source of the e-mail, and the number of times of broadcasting for each other user of the e-mail destination. To get.
The evaluation unit 202 sets an evaluation value for each e-mail destination. This evaluation value is set so that the smaller the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts, the larger the evaluation value, and the larger the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts, the smaller the evaluation value.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the evaluation value setting policy.
The evaluation value indicates the safety of the recipient of the approval target mail M1 with an integer of 1 to 5 in 5 stages. The smaller the evaluation value, the higher the safety, and the larger the evaluation value, the lower the safety.
For example, a destination that has no record of transmission / reception with the source has an evaluation value of 5. The transmission / reception record with the member whose transmission / reception record with the source is the first predetermined value (for example, 200 times) or more and the number of broadcast transmissions is the second predetermined value (for example, 300 times) or more is the third predetermined value (for example). , 200 times) or more, the evaluation value is 1 as a reliable destination.

The first predetermined value, the second predetermined value, and the third predetermined value may be set for each administrator or department of the mail device 100. The evaluation value and each set value are stored in either the memory 84 or the storage 85 of the mail device 100.

Further, even if the transmission / reception record with the sender is less than the first predetermined value, the transmission / reception record with the member whose number of broadcast transmissions with the sender is the second predetermined value or more is as large as the third predetermined value or more. In that case, the evaluation value is 3 because it may be reliable.

The evaluation value set by the evaluation unit 202 for each destination of the approval target mail M1 is temporarily recorded for each mail in the evaluation value information 218 of FIG. 17, for example.

The mail creation unit 104 includes the transmission / reception history information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the approval target mail M1 in the approval request mail M2.
Specifically, among the evaluation values for each destination of the approval target mail M1, the maximum value (the maximum value is 5 in the example of FIG. 17) is used as the transmission / reception history information of the approval request mail M2 (evaluation value information 218). It is included in FIG. 18).

Further, at least one of the maximum value, the total value, the average value, and the minimum value of the evaluation values for each destination of the approval target mail M1 may be included in the approval request mail M2 as transmission / reception history information.

In the example of FIG. 18, the evaluation value is recorded in the importance header 222 (X-Priority :) of the header portion 120 of the approval request mail M2. In another example, the evaluation value may be recorded in the comment header (Comments :) (not shown) of the header portion 120 of the approval request mail M2, for example.

As shown in FIG. 19, the distribution rule 22 may further include an approval condition that the evaluation value is less than 2. Under this condition, the approval is performed only when the security of all the recipients of the approval target mail M1 is high.

The operation of the mail device 200 of the present embodiment configured in this way will be described below.
FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a procedure for creating an approval request mail M2 in the mail device 200.
This flow corresponds to the detailed procedure of step S105 of FIG.
First, the acquisition unit 102 acquires the information (sender, address, attached file information) of the approval target mail M1 (step S201). Further, the acquisition unit 102 refers to the transmission / reception count information 214 and the broadcast history information 216, and acquires the transmission / reception count corresponding to the sender and the destination and the broadcast count information, respectively (step S203).

Then, the evaluation unit 202 calculates an evaluation value for each e-mail destination from the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts according to the setting policy of FIG. 16 (step S205). The mail creation unit 104 acquires the maximum value from the evaluation values of the mail destinations (step S207), and describes it in the importance header 222 (X-Priority :) of the header part 120 of the approval request mail M2. Further, the mail creation unit 104 describes the information acquired in steps S201 and S207 in the header part 120 and the main body 130 of the approval request mail M2 to create the approval request mail M2 as shown in FIG. 18 (step S209). ).

Then, as described in the above embodiment, the approval request mail M2 created by the mail creation unit 104 is stored in the inbox 112 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1, and the approval request mail of FIG. 10 is stored by the distribution unit 106. Sorting processing is performed based on the approval determination of M2. Then, the execution unit 108 performs the delivery process of the approval request mail M2 of FIG.

As described above, the mail device 200 of the present embodiment has the same effect as that of the above embodiment, and further uses information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail between the sender and the destination of the approval target mail M1. Since the evaluation value indicating the safety of the relationship between the sender and the destination is calculated and included in the approval request email M2, the reliability of the approval work can be improved.

(Third Embodiment)
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The mail device of the present embodiment has the same configuration as either the mail device 100 of the first embodiment or the mail device 200 of the second embodiment, and its operation is different from that of the above embodiment. Here, it is assumed that the mail device 200 has the same configuration as that of the second embodiment. Further, the mail device of this embodiment may be combined with other embodiments described later.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 and a mail device 200, which are the main parts of the mail server 40 in the present embodiment.
In the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, the approval request mail M2 sorts the mails that do not meet the approval conditions as confirmation-required mails in the approval processing by sorting according to the sorting rule 22, or performs the sorting processing according to the denial conditions. , The same as any of the mail devices of the above embodiment.

The mailbox area 46 includes an inbox 112, an approved box 114, a confirmation box 116, and a denial box 117.
According to the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, the approval target mail M1 that has not been approved by the automatic determination according to the distribution rule 22 is stored in the confirmation box 116, the approver U1 confirms the content, and the approver U1 approves. The email can be moved to the approved box 114 or the confirmation required box 116 by a simple operation procedure (indicated by the broken line arrow in the figure).

The predetermined distribution rule 22 defines that if the approval request mail M2 does not meet the approval conditions, the approval request mail M2 is stored in the confirmation box 116.

A plurality of distribution rules 22 can be set, and in the present embodiment, a distribution rule 22 including a denial condition for denying the approval request mail M2 is also set.
As shown in FIG. 22, in the distribution rule 22, the denial condition for denying the approval request mail M2 is that there is an attached file, that the destination includes an external domain, and that the evaluation value is 3 or more. Is defined. Further, the sorting rule 22 defines that the mail matching the condition is moved to the denial box 117 as an operation when at least one of the denial conditions is satisfied.

Further, when the approver U1 performs an operation of moving the approval request mail M2 in the confirmation required box 116 to a predetermined mailbox (for example, the approved box 114 or the denial box 117) using the MUA20, the execution is executed. The unit 108 also executes the action set in each mailbox for the approval request mail M2 stored in the predetermined mailbox by the move operation of the approver U1.

No action may be set in the confirmation box 116. The content of the approval request mail M2 stored in the confirmation required box 116 is confirmed by the approver U1 using the MUA 20, and the approver U1 is moved to the approved box 114 or the denial box 117.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of the mail preview screen 310 displayed on the MUA 20 of the approver U1.
The preview screen 310 includes a box configuration field 320, a mail list 330, and a mail preview field 340.

In the box configuration column 320, the configuration of the mailbox in the mailbox area 46 of the user U1 is schematically displayed by GUI (Graphical User Interface). At least the confirmation required box icon 322, the approved box icon 324, and the denial box icon 326 are displayed in the box configuration column 320.

In the mail list 330, information (subject, date and time of reception, sender, etc.) of the mail in the box selected in the box configuration field 320 is displayed in a list. Here, an example is shown in which the confirmation required box icon 322 surrounded by the broken line L1 is selected.

In the mail preview column 340, a preview of the mail (enclosed by the broken line L2) selected in the mail list 330 is displayed. The mail preview field 340 includes a mail header field 342 and a mail body field 344. The email header information (subject, date and time of receipt, sender, recipient, etc.) is displayed in the mail header field 342, and the mail body is displayed in the mail body field 344.

The approver U1 browses the mail stored in the confirmation box 116 on the preview screen 310, checks the contents, and if it determines that the mail can be approved, the mail in the mail list 330 is approved in the box configuration column 320. Perform the operation of dragging to the box icon 324.
By this operation, the mail stored in the confirmation box 116 of the mailbox area 46 of the user U1 of the mail server 40 is moved to the approved box 114.
The mail moved to the approved box 114 is delivered by the execution unit 108 according to the action set in the approved box 114.

If the approver U1 determines that the mail cannot be approved, the approver U1 drags the mail in the mail list 330 to the denial box icon 326 in the box configuration field 320.
By this operation, the mail stored in the confirmation box 116 of the mailbox area 46 of the user U1 of the mail server 40 is moved to the denial box 117.
The mail moved to the denial box 117 is canceled by the execution unit 108 according to the action set in the denial box 117.

As shown in FIG. 23, in the mail body field 344, a content instructing to move the approval request mail M2 to the approved box 114 when approving the mail is described, and when the mail is not approved, the content is described. , The content instructing to move the approval request mail M2 to the denial box 117 is described.

In this way, the approver U1 can manually operate the mail that needs to be confirmed on the preview screen 310 of the MUA20 of the approver U1, and the mail can be processed according to the operation.

Returning to FIG. 21, the action set in the denial box 117 is to delete the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the approval request mail M2 stored in the denial box 117 from the approval waiting mail storage unit 50.
At this time, the execution unit 108 refers to the reference 128 of the approval request mail M2 stored in the denial box 117 and acquires the message ID. Then, the approval-waiting mail storage unit 50 is searched to find the approval target mail M1 having the acquired message ID, and the approval-waiting mail storage unit 50 is deleted. This allows the delivery of rejected emails to be stopped.
Further, the execution unit 108 also deletes the approval request mail M2 stored in the denial box 117.

Further, the mail device 200 may further include a notification unit (not shown) for notifying the sender of the mail that the delivery of the rejected approval target mail M1 has been stopped.
For example, from the sender display field 134b (From :) of the mail information field 134 of the approval request mail M2, the mail address of the sender 144 (From :) of the approval target mail M1 is acquired, and a message of delivery cancellation is sent to that mail address. Send the email described in the text. Further, the original approval target email M1 may be attached to the notification email.

The operation of the mail device 200 of the present embodiment configured in this way will be described below.
FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the mail sorting process according to the denial condition (sorting rule 22 of FIG. 22) following the mail sorting process according to the approval condition (sorting rule 22 of FIG. 19).
This flow is executed when the distribution unit 106 performs the mail distribution process according to the approval condition in step S113 of FIG. 10 and does not build the approval condition in step S113 (NO in step S113).

First, the sorting unit 106 determines whether or not the approval request mail M2 stored in the inbox 112 meets the denial condition of the sorting rule 22 set by the MUA 20 of the approver U1 (step S301). If they match (YES in step S301), the sorting unit 106 moves the approval request mail M2 from the inbox 112 to the denial box 117 (step S303). If they do not match (NO in step S301), the approval request mail M2 is moved from the inbox 112 to the confirmation required box 116 (step S305).

Then, if another approval request mail M2 is in the inbox 112, the process returns to step S111 in FIG. 10 and the process of this flow is repeated (not shown). If there is no other approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112, this flow is terminated for the time being.

By the process of FIG. 24, the denial transfer process of the approval request mail M2 is completed. In this example, the configuration in which the sorting process according to the approval condition is performed and then the sorting process according to the denial condition is described, but in other examples, the sorting process according to the denial condition is performed first, and then. , The sorting process may be performed according to the approval conditions.

Next, the delivery cancellation process of the rejected approval request mail M2 will be described.
FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the execution unit 108 of the mail device 200 of the present embodiment.

As described above, the action is defined in advance in the denial box 117. The execution unit 108 executes the action set in the denial box 117. The flow start timing in this figure can be, for example, periodically. Alternatively, the timing may be set by the approver U1 or the administrator of the mail server 40. Alternatively, when the distribution unit 106 stores the approval request mail M2 in the denial box 117, the execution unit 108 may be notified and started at the timing of receiving the notification. Alternatively, it may be started when a predetermined number or more of e-mails are stored in the denial box 117, or when a predetermined time or more has passed since the e-mails were stored. A combination of these may be used. The start timing may be predetermined, or the setting may be changed at any time by the approver U1 or the administrator.

First, the execution unit 108 refers to the denial box 117 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 and confirms whether or not the mail is stored (step S311). Then, the execution unit 108 takes out the approval request mail M2 contained in the denial box 117 (step S313). The execution unit 108 searches for the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the extracted approval request mail M2 from the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50 (step S315).

Specifically, the execution unit 108 stores the approval target mail M1 having the same message ID 150 as the message ID of the approval target mail M1 described in the reference 128 (References :) of the approval request mail M2 in the approval waiting mail storage unit. Search from 50 pending approval queues.

When the corresponding approval target email M1 is found (YES in step S317), the notification unit creates an email clearly stating that the approval target email M1 has been rejected, and sends the rejected approval target email M1 to the sender. Deliver (step S319).

If the corresponding approval target mail M1 is not found (NO in step S317), this process ends. At this time, the execution unit 108 may perform a predetermined error processing similar to the processing described in step S127 of FIG. 11 by the notification unit.

After step S319, the execution unit 108 deletes the delivered approval target mail M1 from the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50 (step S321). Further, the execution unit 108 deletes the approval request mail M2 from the denial box 117 of the mailbox area 46 of the approver U1 (step S323).

As described above, in the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, the approval request mail M2 that does not meet the approval conditions defined in the sorting rule 22 is sorted by the sorting unit 106 into the confirmation required box 116, so that the approver U1 Can browse the approval request mail M2 stored in the confirmation required box 116 using the MUA20, confirm the contents, and perform the approval work.

As described above, according to the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment is obtained, and for those that do not meet the approval conditions, the approver U1 confirms the approval in the confirmation box 116. The content of the request mail M2 can be confirmed and the approval work can be performed. The approval operation can be performed by using the MUA 20 to move the mail to either the approved box 114 or the rejected box 117.

For example, if the approver U1 determines that the email can be approved, the MUA20 is used to move the email to the approved box 114, and if it is determined that the email cannot be approved, the MUA20 is used to move the email to the denial box 117. All you have to do is perform the operation. Approval work can be performed with such a simple operation.

Further, according to the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, the approval request mail M2 can be automatically sorted to the denial box 117 according to the sorting rule 22 including the denial condition, so that the burden of the approval work of the approver U1 is borne. It is possible to reduce the number of approvals, improve the efficiency of approval work, avoid human error, and prevent erroneous delivery of emails.

Further, according to the action set in the denial box 117, the approval target mail M1 corresponding to the approval request mail M2 is deleted from the approval waiting queue of the approval waiting mail storage unit 50, and the mail is rejected by the sender and the delivery is canceled. Can be notified, so the sender can know that the mail has been undelivered.

(Fourth Embodiment)
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The mail device of this embodiment has the same configuration as any one of the mail devices of the above embodiment, and its operation is different from that of the above embodiment. Here, it is assumed that it has the same configuration as the mail device 200 of the third embodiment. Further, the mail device of this embodiment may be combined with other embodiments described later.

The mail device 200 of the present embodiment is the same as any of the above-described embodiments, except that the approval of the mail can be delegated to an approver (for example, proxy user U5) different from the approver U1. According to the mail device 200 of the present embodiment, when the approver U1 is absent, the mail approval work can be delegated to the proxy user U5.

According to the predetermined distribution rule 22, the transmission / reception history information of the approval request mail M2 does not meet the approval conditions, and also meets the delegation conditions for delegating the approval of the mail to an approver (proxy user U5) different from the approver U1. In this case, the approval request mail M2 is stored in a delegation box (not shown).
The execution unit 108 forwards the approval request mail M2 stored in the delegation box to the inbox of the proxy user U5 according to the action set in the delegation box.

In the distribution rule 22, as the delegation conditions for delegating the approval request email M2, for example, terms such as "urgent", "urgent", "important", and "reply required" in the subject, and a predetermined keyword (predetermined project name) Etc.) are included, the sender is a predetermined sender (important client, etc.), the email is more than a predetermined period from the date of receipt of the email, and the like may be defined. Further, the distribution rule 22 may define that the mail matching the conditions is moved to the delegation box as an operation when at least one of the delegation conditions is met.

Further, an action for the stored mail is set in the delegation box, and when the approval request mail M2 is stored, the execution unit 108 processes the approval request mail M2 according to the action.
The action set in the delegation box delivers, for example, the approval request mail M2 to the inbox 112 of the mailbox area 46 of the delegation destination proxy user U5 designated in advance by the approver U1. The delegation destination user U5 can perform the approval process by looking at the approval request mail M2 forwarded from the approver U1.

Further, the delegated proxy user U5 also has the same distribution rule 22 as the approver U1 set in the MUA20, and the mailbox area 46 of the proxy user U5 is also the same mailbox as the approver U1 (approved). It may have a box 114, a confirmation required box 116, a denial box 117, etc.). As a result, the approval request mail M2 forwarded from the approver U1 to the delegation may be automatically distributed and approved by the MUA20 of the proxy user U5 in the same manner.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the same effect as that of the above embodiment is obtained, and even when the approver U1 is absent, the proxy user U5 to which the approval work is delegated is designated in advance. By setting it, the approval work can be performed without delay. For example, it is possible to prevent the approval target mail M1 containing the contents that require urgent action from being delayed in delivery due to the stagnation of the approval work. The delegation process can be realized only by setting the transfer to the delegation box in which the delegation conditions and the action of mail forwarding to the delegator (proxy user U5) are set in the distribution rule 22. In this way, using the MUA20 of the approver U1, the delegation of the approval work of the approval request mail M2 to the substitute user U5 when absent can be requested only by a simple operation of setting the delegation condition in the distribution rule 22.

(Fifth Embodiment)
The mail device according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention has the minimum configuration of the mail device of the present invention.
FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram that logically shows the configuration of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment.
FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment.

The mail device 100 includes an acquisition unit 102, a mail creation unit 104, and a distribution unit 106.
The acquisition unit 102 acquires information (message ID) that identifies the approval target mail M1.
The message ID is, for example, Message ID: in the mail header.
The mail creation unit 104 creates the approval request mail M2 of the approval target mail M1. The message ID is included in the approval request mail M2. The mail creation unit 104 stores the approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112 of the approver U1.
The distribution unit 106 distributes the approval request mail M2 stored in the inbox 112 of the approver U1 to a predetermined mailbox according to the preset distribution rule 22.
The predetermined distribution rule 22 includes storing the approval request mail M2 in the approved box 114 when the approval request mail M2 meets the approval conditions.

In the mail device 100 of the present embodiment, various units as described above are realized as various functions by the CPU executing various processing operations corresponding to the computer program.

The computer program of the present embodiment includes a procedure for acquiring information (message ID) for identifying the approval target mail M1 and specific information (message ID) for the approval target mail M1 in the computer for realizing the mail device 100. According to the procedure for creating the email approval request email M2, the procedure for storing the email in the inbox 112 of the email approver U1, and the preset distribution rule 22, the approval request email M2 stored in the inbox 112 is stored in the predetermined mailbox. It is described to execute the procedure of sorting to.

The recording medium on which the computer program 90 is recorded includes a medium that can be used by the non-temporary tangible computer 80, and the program code that can be read by the computer 80 is embedded in the medium. When the computer program 90 is executed on the computer 80, the computer 80 is made to execute the following information processing method for realizing the mail device 100.

In the information processing method of the mail device 100 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the mail device 100 acquires the information (message ID) for specifying the approval target mail M1 (step S501), and specifies the approval target mail M1. An approval request mail M2 of the mail including the information (message ID) is created (step S503), stored in the inbox 112 of the mail approver U1 (step S505), and is stored in the inbox according to the preset distribution rule 22. The approval request mail M2 stored in 112 is distributed to a predetermined mailbox (step S507).

As described above, according to the mail device 100 of the present embodiment, the approval request mail M2 including the message ID of the approval target mail M1 is created, stored in the receiving mailbox of the approver U1, and the mailer of the approver U1. When the mail in the receiving mailbox matches the approval condition included in the sorting rule set in, the mail can be sorted to the approved box of the approver U1.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the mail determined to be deliverable can be moved to the approved box 114 in accordance with the distribution rule 22 including the preset approval conditions. The approver U1 does not need to confirm the content of the email. Since it is possible to automate the determination of whether or not to deliver an email, it is possible to avoid human error and prevent erroneous delivery of an email.

Further, if the confirmation work of the mail contents is performed manually, it takes time, but in this embodiment, since the delivery availability is automatically determined, the time and effort of the confirmation work can be saved, the work efficiency can be improved, and the approval of the approver U1. The work load can be reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the approval process can be realized only by a simple operation of setting the approval condition in the distribution rule 22 by using the MUA 20 of the approver U1. It is not necessary to add a special configuration to the user terminal 10 of the approver U1, and it is sufficient to use the general distribution function of the MUA 20.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings, these are examples of the present invention, and various configurations other than the above can be adopted.
(Other examples of approval request email M2)
For example, in the above embodiment, information such as the sender and address of the approval target email M1 is described in the body of the approval request email M2. In other embodiments, such information may be described in the header of the approval request email M2.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of the header of the approval request mail M2.
In the sender header (Sender :), a dedicated e-mail address for approval request is described.
In the destination header (To :), all the mail addresses of all the destination headers (To :, cc :, bcc :) including the broadcast destination of the approval target mail M1 are described.
In the sender header (From :), the email address of the sender header (From :) of the approval target email M1 is described.
In the subject header (Subject :), the subject of the approval target email M1 and the name of the attached file are described. For example, "Fw: Market-scale research report (market research report material.doc)".
In the reply destination header (Reply-To :) and the error return destination header (Return-Path), the mail address of the sender header (From :) of the approval target mail M1 is described.
In the importance header (X-Piority :), the evaluation value (integer of 1 to 5) of the approval target mail M1 is described.

According to this configuration, the mail device of the present invention can be realized even when the distribution function of the MUA 20 corresponds only to the header information.

(Configuration for approval processing by multiple approvers)
Further, in the above embodiment, the case where one approver performs the approval work has been described. In other embodiments, the approval work may be performed by a plurality of approvers.
The plurality of approvers may be, for example, a plurality of approvers with different approval authority levels, or may be approvers of a plurality of different departments. The first approver (for example, section manager), the second approver (for example, department manager), and the like are associated with information indicating the order in which the approval request mail M2 is circulated.

For example, in the first approver, the distribution rule 22 sets an approval condition and a necessity confirmation condition by a plurality of approvers, and an action of forwarding to the receiving mailbox (not shown) of the second approver is set. It is defined to sort to a forwarding mailbox (not shown).

In the case of the approval target email M1 that requires the approval of the second approver, the email creation unit 104 may include information indicating that the approval of the second approver is required in the body 130 of the approval request email M2. Whether or not the e-mail requires the approval of the second approver can be determined by associating a plurality of approvers with the e-mail address or domain name of the recipient or sender in the approval target correspondence table 110 described above together with the circulation order.

The mail creation unit 104 stores the approval request mail M2 in the inbox 112 of the first approver. In the approval request email M2, the text 130 contains information indicating that the approval of the second approver is required (for example, a message such as "This email requires the approval of another approver") and the first. 2 Describe information (for example, account name or e-mail address) for identifying the inbox 112 of the approver.

Alternatively, the email address (or account name) of the second approver may be described in the reply destination header (Reply-To) of the header portion 120 of the approval request email M2.

The approval conditions include a description of the address in the reply destination header (Reply-To), or a message such as "This email requires the approval of another approver" in the body 130. When the conditions are met, the e-mail can be distributed to the forwarding mailbox as the approval request e-mail M2 that requires the approval of the second approver.

The approval process in each approver can be performed in the same manner as in the above embodiment. After the emails are sorted according to the approval conditions according to the first approver's sorting rule 22, the emails are sorted according to the approval conditions according to the second approver's sorting rule 22. The email approved by both the first approver and the second approver will be delivered to the recipient.

With this configuration, for example, approval work by a plurality of approvers of a section chief and a department manager, or approvers of a plurality of different departments is possible.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments and examples, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and examples. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made within the scope of the present invention in terms of the structure and details of the present invention.
In addition, when information about a user is acquired and used in this invention, this shall be done legally.

Some or all of the above embodiments may also be described, but not limited to:
1. 1. An acquisition method for acquiring information that identifies the email to be approved, and
An email creation means that creates an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
A sorting means for sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule is provided.
The predetermined sorting rule includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions.
2. 2. 1. 1. In the mail device described in
The acquisition means further acquires information based on the transmission / reception history of the email from which the email is sent.
The mail creation means includes information based on the transmission / reception history in the approval request mail.
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the information based on the transmission / reception history included in the approval request email meets the approval condition. Mail device.
3. 3. 2. 2. In the mail device described in
The information based on the transmission / reception history is a mail device including information based on the transmission / reception history of an email between the destination and the sender of the email.
4. 3. 3. In the mail device described in
From the information based on the transmission / reception history of the email, the acquisition means broadcasts the number of transmissions / receptions between the sender and the recipient of the email, the broadcast for each user who is the sender of the email, and the broadcast for each other user of the broadcast destination. Get the number of times and
The mail device provides an evaluation means for setting an evaluation value for each destination of the mail, which increases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts decreases, and decreases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts increases. Further prepare
The mail creation means is a mail device that includes the transmission / reception history information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the mail in the approval request mail.
5. 1. 1. From 4. In the mail device described in any one
Actions when mails sorted according to the sorting rules are stored are set in the predetermined mailboxes, respectively.
Further provided with an execution means for executing the action set for each predetermined mailbox on the mail stored in the mailbox.
The execution means
The approval request email stored in the approved mailbox is read from the approval waiting email storage unit that temporarily stores the email corresponding to the approval request email according to the action, and delivered to the destination of the email. , Mail device.
6. 5. In the mail device described in
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the confirmation required mailbox when the approval request email does not meet the approval conditions.
When the approver performs an operation of moving the approval request mail in the confirmation-required mailbox to the predetermined mailbox by using a mailer, the execution means is the predetermined by the move operation by the approver. A mail device that executes the action set in the mailbox also for the approval request mail stored in the mailbox.
7. 5. Or 6. In the mail device described in
In the predetermined distribution rule, when the transmission / reception history information of the approval request email does not meet the approval condition and meets the delegation condition for delegating the approval of the email to an approver other than the approver. Includes storing the approval request email in the delegation mailbox,
The execution means
A mail device that forwards the approval request mail to the receiving mailbox of the other approver according to the action for the approval request mail stored in the delegation mailbox.

8. The mail device
Get the information that identifies the email to be approved,
Create an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email, store it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email, and
According to a preset distribution rule, the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox is distributed to a predetermined mailbox.
A method of information processing of a mail device, wherein the predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request mail in an approved mailbox when the approval request mail meets the approval conditions.
9. 8. In the information processing method described in
The mail device
Furthermore, information based on the transmission / reception history of the e-mail from which the e-mail is sent is acquired, and the information is obtained.
Create the approval request email including the information based on the transmission / reception history,
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the information based on the transmission / reception history included in the approval request email meets the approval condition. Information processing method.
10. 9. In the information processing method described in
The information processing method based on the transmission / reception history includes information based on the transmission / reception history of an email between the destination and the sender of the email.
11. 10. In the information processing method described in
The mail device
From the information based on the transmission / reception history of the email, the number of transmissions / receptions between the sender and the recipient of the email and the number of broadcasts for each other user of the broadcast destination are acquired for each user who is the sender of the email. And
For each of the recipients of the mail, an evaluation value is set, which increases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts decreases, and decreases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts increases.
An information processing method for creating the approval request email including the transmission / reception history information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the email.
12. 8. From 11. In the information processing method described in any one of them,
Actions when mails sorted according to the sorting rules are stored are set in the predetermined mailboxes, respectively.
The mail device
The action set for each predetermined mailbox is executed for the mail stored in the mailbox, and the mail is executed.
The approval request email stored in the approved mailbox is read from the approval waiting email storage unit that temporarily stores the email corresponding to the approval request email according to the action, and delivered to the destination of the email. , Information processing method.
13. 12. In the information processing method described in
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the confirmation required mailbox when the approval request email does not meet the approval conditions.
The mail device
When the approver performs an operation of moving the approval request mail in the confirmation required mailbox to the predetermined mailbox by using a mailer, the approver stores the approval request mail in the predetermined mailbox by the move operation. An information processing method for executing the action set in the mailbox also for the approval request email.
14. 12. Or 13. In the information processing method described in
In the predetermined distribution rule, when the transmission / reception history information of the approval request email does not meet the approval condition and meets the delegation condition for delegating the approval of the email to an approver other than the approver. Includes storing the approval request email in the delegation mailbox,
The mail device
An information processing method for forwarding an approval request email stored in the delegation mailbox to the receiving mailbox of another approver according to the action.

15. On the computer
Procedures for obtaining information that identifies emails to be approved,
A procedure for creating an approval request email for the email containing specific information of the email and storing it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
It is a program for executing the procedure of distributing the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset distribution rule.
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions.
16. 15. In the program described in
Further, a procedure for acquiring information based on the transmission / reception history of the e-mail from which the e-mail is sent.
It is a program for causing a computer to execute the procedure of creating the approval request mail by including the information based on the transmission / reception history in the approval request mail.
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the information based on the transmission / reception history included in the approval request email meets the approval condition. program.
17. 16. In the program described in
The information based on the transmission / reception history is a program including information based on the transmission / reception history of an email between the destination and the sender of the email.
18. 17. In the program described in
From the information based on the transmission / reception history of the email, the number of transmissions / receptions between the sender and the recipient of the email and the number of broadcasts for each other user of the broadcast destination are acquired for each user who is the sender of the email. Procedure to do,
A procedure for setting an evaluation value that increases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts decreases, and decreases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts increases for each destination of the email.
A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for creating the approval request mail by including the transmission / reception history information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the mail in the approval request mail.
19. 15. To 18. In the program described in any one
Actions when mails sorted according to the sorting rules are stored are set in the predetermined mailboxes, respectively.
A procedure for executing the action set for each predetermined mailbox on the mail stored in the mailbox.
The approval request email stored in the approved mailbox is read from the approval waiting email storage unit that temporarily stores the email corresponding to the approval request email according to the action, and delivered to the destination of the email. A program that lets your computer execute the procedure.
20. 19. In the program described in
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the confirmation required mailbox when the approval request email does not meet the approval conditions.
When the approver performs an operation of moving the approval request mail in the confirmation required mailbox to the predetermined mailbox by using a mailer, the approver stores the approval request mail in the predetermined mailbox by the move operation. A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for executing the action set in the mailbox for the approval request email.
21. 19. Or 20. In the program described in
In the predetermined distribution rule, when the transmission / reception history information of the approval request email does not meet the approval condition and meets the delegation condition for delegating the approval of the email to an approver other than the approver. Includes storing the approval request email in the delegation mailbox,
A program for causing a computer to execute a procedure of forwarding an approval request email to the receiving mailbox of another approver according to the action for the approval request email stored in the delegation mailbox.

22. A mail server including a mail device and
A user terminal having an approver's mailer that sets a predetermined distribution rule, and
The mail server
A storage device that has a mailbox area for storing sent and received mail for each user,
A receiving means that receives an e-mail delivered to a user and stores it in the mailbox area of the user in the mailbox area.
It is provided with a delivery means for receiving an e-mail sent from the user and delivering it to the destination of the e-mail.
The mail device is
An acquisition means for acquiring information that identifies an e-mail to be approved extracted from the e-mail received by the mail server, and an acquisition means.
An email creation means that creates an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
A sorting means for sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule is provided.
In the mailer
The predetermined sorting rule used for sorting the mail stored in the receiving mailbox of the approver is preset, and the predetermined sorting rule is set when the approval request mail meets the approval conditions. A mail system that includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox.
23. 22. In the mail system described in
In the mail device
The acquisition means further acquires information based on the transmission / reception history of the email from which the email is sent.
The mail creation means includes information based on the transmission / reception history in the approval request mail.
In the mailer
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the approved mailbox when the information based on the transmission / reception history included in the approval request email meets the approval condition. Mail system.
24. 23. In the mail system described in
The information based on the transmission / reception history is a mail system including information based on the transmission / reception history of an email between the destination and the sender of the email.
25. 24. In the mail system described in
In the mail device
From the information based on the transmission / reception history of the email, the acquisition means broadcasts the number of transmissions / receptions between the sender and the recipient of the email, the broadcast for each user who is the sender of the email, and the broadcast for each other user of the broadcast destination. Get the number of times and
The mail device is
For each of the recipients of the e-mail, an evaluation means for setting an evaluation value that increases as the number of transmissions and receptions and the number of broadcasts decreases, and decreases as the number of transmissions and receptions and the number of broadcasts increases.
In the mail device
The mail creation means is a mail system that includes the transmission / reception history information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the mail in the approval request mail.
26. 22. To 25. In the mail system described in any one
Actions when mails sorted according to the sorting rules are stored are set in the predetermined mailboxes, respectively.
The mail device is
Further provided with an execution means for executing the action set for each predetermined mailbox on the mail stored in the mailbox.
In the mail device
The execution means
With respect to the approval request mail stored in the approved mailbox, according to the action, from the approval waiting mail storage unit that temporarily stores the mail corresponding to the approval request mail in the delivery means of the mail server. A mail system that reads and delivers to the destination of the mail.
27. 26. In the mail system described in
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the confirmation required mailbox when the approval request email does not meet the approval conditions.
The mail device is
When the approver performs an operation of moving the approval request mail in the confirmation-required mailbox to the predetermined mailbox using the mailer, the execution means is performed by the approver by the move operation. A mail system that executes the action set in the mailbox also for the approval request mail stored in the predetermined mailbox.
28. 26. Or 27. In the mail system described in
In the predetermined distribution rule, when the transmission / reception history information of the approval request email does not meet the approval condition and meets the delegation condition for delegating the approval of the email to an approver other than the approver. Includes storing the approval request email in the delegation mailbox,
In the mail device
The execution means
A mail system that forwards the approval request mail stored in the delegation mailbox to the receiving mailbox of the other approver according to the action.

1 Mail system 3 Network 5 External network 10 User terminal 12 MUA
20 Approver MUA
30 mail sender MUA
22 Sorting rule 24 Mailbox definition information 40 Mail server 42 Receiving unit 44 Mailbox area unit 46 User-specific mailbox area 48 Delivery unit 50 Approval-waiting mail storage unit 80 Computer 82 CPU
84 Memory 85 Storage 86 I / O
87 Communication I / F
89 Bus 90 Program 100 Mail device 102 Acquisition unit 104 Mail creation unit 106 Sorting unit 108 Execution unit 110 Approval target Correspondence table 112 Inbox 114 Approved box 116 Confirmation box 117 Denial box M2 Approval request mail 120 Header part 122 Subject 124 Destination 126 Sender 128 Reference 130 Body 132 Message 134 Mail information field 134a Address display field 134b Sender display field 136 Attachment information field 138 Destination information M1 Approved mail 142 Destination 144 Destination 146 Broadcast destination 150 Message ID
200 Mail device 202 Evaluation unit 210 Transmission / reception history storage unit 212 Transmission / reception history information 214 Transmission / reception count information 216 Broadcast history information 218 Evaluation value information 222 Importance header 310 Preview screen 320 Box configuration field 322 Confirmation required box icon 324 Approved box icon 326 Denial box icon 330 Mail list 340 Mail preview field 342 Mail header field 344 Mail body field U1 Approver U2, U3, U4 User U5 Proxy user

Claims (10)

An acquisition method for acquiring information that identifies the email to be approved, and
An email creation means that creates an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
A sorting means for sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule is provided.
The predetermined sorting rule includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions. In the mail device according to claim 1,
The acquisition means further acquires information based on the transmission / reception history of the email from which the email is sent.
The mail creation means includes the information obtained from the information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail in the approval request mail.
In the predetermined distribution rule, when the information obtained from the information based on the transmission / reception history of the email included in the approval request email meets the approval condition, the approval request email is stored in the approved mailbox. Is included in the mail device. In the mail device according to claim 2,
The information obtained from the information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail includes the information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail between the destination and the sender of the mail. In the mail device according to claim 3,
The acquisition means, as information based on the transmission / reception history of the email, the number of transmissions / receptions between the sender and the recipient of the email, the broadcast for each user who is the sender of the email, and the broadcast for each other user of the broadcast destination. Get the number of times and
The mail device provides an evaluation means for setting an evaluation value for each destination of the mail, which increases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts decreases, and decreases as the number of transmissions / receptions and the number of broadcasts increases. Further prepare
The mail creation means is a mail device that includes information based on the evaluation value for each destination of the mail in the approval request mail as information obtained from information based on the transmission / reception history of the mail. In the mail device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
Actions when mails sorted according to the sorting rules are stored are set in the predetermined mailboxes, respectively.
Further provided with an execution means for executing the action set for each predetermined mailbox on the mail stored in the mailbox.
The execution means
The approval request email stored in the approved mailbox is read from the approval waiting email storage unit that temporarily stores the email corresponding to the approval request email according to the action, and delivered to the destination of the email. , Mail device. In the mail device according to claim 5,
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in the confirmation required mailbox when the approval request email does not meet the approval conditions.
When the approver performs an operation of moving the approval request mail in the confirmation-required mailbox to the predetermined mailbox by using a mailer, the execution means is the predetermined by the move operation by the approver. A mail device that executes the action set in the mailbox also for the approval request mail stored in the mailbox. In the mail device according to claim 5 or 6,
Wherein the predetermined distribution rule, not meeting the approval request mail before Symbol authorization conditions, and, if that meets the delegating conditions for delegating authorization of the mail to another approver and the approver, the approval request Includes storing mail in a delegation mailbox,
The execution means
A mail device that forwards the approval request mail to the receiving mailbox of the other approver according to the action for the approval request mail stored in the delegation mailbox. The mail device
Get the information that identifies the email to be approved,
Create an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email, store it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email, and
According to a preset distribution rule, the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox is distributed to a predetermined mailbox.
A method of information processing of a mail device, wherein the predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request mail in an approved mailbox when the approval request mail meets the approval conditions. On the computer
Procedures for obtaining information that identifies emails to be approved,
A procedure for creating an approval request email for the email containing specific information of the email and storing it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
It is a program for executing the procedure of distributing the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset distribution rule.
The predetermined distribution rule includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox when the approval request email meets the approval conditions. A mail server including a mail device and
A user terminal having an approver's mailer that sets a predetermined distribution rule, and
The mail server
A storage device that has a mailbox area for storing sent and received mail for each user,
A receiving means that receives an e-mail delivered to a user and stores it in the mailbox area of the user in the mailbox area.
It is provided with a delivery means for receiving an e-mail sent from the user and delivering it to the destination of the e-mail.
The mail device is
An acquisition means for acquiring information that identifies an e-mail to be approved extracted from the e-mail received by the mail server, and an acquisition means.
An email creation means that creates an approval request email for the email containing the specific information of the email and stores it in the receiving mailbox of the approver of the email.
A sorting means for sorting the approval request mail stored in the receiving mailbox to a predetermined mailbox according to a preset sorting rule is provided.
In the mailer
The predetermined sorting rule used for sorting the mail stored in the receiving mailbox of the approver is preset, and the predetermined sorting rule is set when the approval request mail meets the approval conditions. A mail system that includes storing the approval request email in an approved mailbox.

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